Xbox One to Feature HD Gamerpics, Optional Game Updates

When Microsoft's Xbox One launches this November, it will finally give Xbox Live fans the one thing they've always wanted--high-definition gamerpics.

Speaking to fans in an IGN Q&A, Xbox One's chief platform architect Marc Whitten discussed a few more of the cool things Microsoft was setting up for Xbox Live. When asked if gamers would be able to import their own images for gamerpics, Whitten sadly shot that idea down. He did however promise better quality pictures were coming. "We are focused on building out a beautiful collection of 1080p gamerpics for our users on Xbox One," Whitten said. "You’ll also be able to create full-body poses of your Avatar to use as a gamerpic. You’ll see us do much more here in the future. At launch, we expect to have 300 gamerpics to choose from."

Whitten was also asked how title updates would work on the Xbox One. Instead of being forced to download every update, developers will have to ability to make certain content pushes optional. "Content providers will have the ability to push two types of content updates with Xbox One: ones that are immediately mandatory like in Xbox 360 and ones that are optional," Whitten said. "If you opt to not take an optional update, you can continue to play online and do the update at a later time."

We've still got more than a month to go until the Xbox One finally arrives, so Whitten will likely have more to offer on the future of the next-gen console in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out the example images Whitten provided showing off the new gamerpics.